The NM-INBRE DRPP provides critical support for promising new and early career investigators, and is a determining factor in the direction of their developing research careers. These projects address significant biomedical questions and critical health problems in the areas of Brain and Behavioral Health; Cancer; Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases; Child Health; Environmental Health; Infectious Disease and Immunity. The quality of the DRPP science is outstanding, resulting in publications in high impact journals, and pending patents for novel pancratistatin and rigidin analogues with anticancer properties. Efforts to encourage research collaboration have been successful, during the current funding period 23% of the publications have involved collaborations between 2 or more NM-INBRE participants, and this trend is expected to increase in the continuing program. Investigators have been successful in competing for external federal grants, in spite of the difficult funding environment, including recent R01, R21, R03, and R15 awards. The DRPP has made significant impacts on the partner institutions, such as San Juan College, a two-year associate degree-granting institution in the four-corners region with a large Native American student population, where the research activity supported by the NM-INBRE was leveraged to justify a competitive application for an NSF grant to remodel the research space and install a clean room that was funded and now supports research projects. The framework of DRPP projects also serve the primary objective of exposing students to research experiences, and this impact will continue with increased opportunities through an expanded portfolio of projects.